SNP veteran Kenny MacAskill has criticised the Scottish Government for “failing” to hand over all the papers in the Alex Salmond probe.
MacAskill rejected claims some information had to be censored and backed a Holyrood committee’s demands for full disclosure.
It follows clashes between MSPs and government on how the probe will be carried out.
Two years ago, Sturgeon’s government looked at claims of sexual misconduct against Salmond. He challenged it and a judicial review ruled it unlawful and biased.
A committee of MSPs in now raking over the bungled investigation which cost half a million pounds of taxpayers’ cash.
MacAskill, who served in government with Sturgeon and is now SNP MP for East Lothian, claimed: “Failing to deliver up all the papers in the Alex Salmond inquiry is simply unacceptable. It goes against the very ethos of the Scottish Parliament which is why the committee is right to stand its ground.”
He criticised the “intransigence” of Scotland’s top civil servant, Leslie Evans, and said the actions of the country’s top law office, the Lord Advocate, are “plain wrong”.
In an article published in The Scotsman, MacAskill added: “It’s extraordinary that so far there has been no resignation, not even it appears a modest redeployment in roles.
“Yet an expensive civil case was lost, and a gargantuan criminal trawl saw an acquittal on all charges.”
Evans, the permanent secretary, is scheduled to give oral evidence this month on the development of the procedure that underpinned the flawed Salmond probe.
In a letter to the committee, Evans said she would be joined by colleagues at the session.
